NOAA ship Albatross IV: a fisheries research vessel with brains

The NOAA Ship Albatross IV is a research vessel used primarily by the US National Marine Fisheries Service to collect data in support of marine resource assessment programs. The Albatross IV was the first NOAA fisheries research vessel to be modernized under the Fleet Replacement and Modernization program. This paper discusses modernization of the ship´s scientific data collection capabilities. New or modernized systems include an RD Instruments Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) with a removable hull-mounted transducer, infrastructure for a Simrad EK 500 Scientific Echo Sounder System, the Scientific Computer System (SCS) for data acquisition, a seawater sampling system, and winch instrumentation. Also included in this paper is a discussion of the design, construction and uses of a portable winch, A-frame and electronics van. The winch, A-frame and van supported an EK 500, SCS and an extensive suite of sensors during NOAA´s first fisheries charter, and illustrates the ability to provide scientific instrumentation that can be easily moved to augment older NOAA ships or chartered research vessels. The first section of the paper provides an overview of NOAA´s fleet operations organization. The remainder of the paper is dedicated to describing the data collection capabilities of NOAA´s fisheries vessels in general and the Albatross IV in particular